Ed Lee the mayor on Ed Lee the candidate

Mayor Ed Lee was peppered again today with questions from reporters looking for his take on the escalating push by Chinatown powerhouse Rose Pak, ex-Mayor Willie Brown and other fans who were at the grand opening of the ”Run Ed Run” headquarters in the South of Market on Saturday to get him into the mayor’s race.

As for the mayor, he was nowhere near the event.

Ed Lee has a lot to think about.

”Actually, you know, I haven’t paid much attention to that, to be quite honest with you,” Lee said.

But if the mayor decides to go the write-in route, a la then-Supervisor Tom Ammiano’s bid for mayor in 1999, he doesn’t have to pay attention to the political whirl for a long time yet.

There are two avenues for Lee to officially pursue a mayoral run. He can file papers with the Department of Elections by the Aug. 12 deadline to have his name added to the roster of candidates, which now number three dozen. Or, he can run as a write-in candidate.

The period to declare a write-in candidacy begins Sept. 12 and ends Oct. 25 — just two weeks before the Nov. 8 election.

The downside of a last minute write-in campaign for Lee is that he would have less time than his rivals to raise money, he could miss out on some of the votes cast early by mail or at the City Hall polling station and his name would not appear on the official ballot or in the voter handbook.

The upside: Lee commands the bully pulpit as mayor with plenty of opportunity to attract media attention without getting into the campaign trail scrum ’til late in the game.

While backers tried to drum up interest for a possible candidacy, the mayor said he spent the weekend keeping busy with gay pride events and is focused on pursuing pension reform, getting his budget plan through the Board of Supervisors and securing voter support for a streets-repair bond.

The mayor, appointed by the board in January to fill out the year remaining on Mayor Gavin Newsom’s term when he became lieutenant governor, has not strayed from his public position that he has no intention to run for the job in November.

”I’ve said time and time again that I don’t want to be distracted with any type of campaign,” Lee said. ”At this time I have not even thought about that. … I’m not focused on campaigning or running for office.”

But for anyone who has been around politics long enough, there were three crucial words in that statement that taken together should be as eye-opening as a bugler playing morning reveille: ”At this time.”

Lee made clear today that he didn’t want the call for him to run to become a distraction to his job running the city. When asked whether he’d tell those organizing the Ed Lee fan club to back off, he said, ”If it becomes a distraction, I will.”

Meanwhile, those folks behind the Run Ed Run campaign hope to collect 50,000 signatures urging him to allow his name to be placed on the ballot.